Results 1-20 of 357 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Lord Young of Norwood Green

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My apologies to the noble Lord. I reject the criticism of the chambers of commerce. I would argue that it has been the beneficiary of significant government funding in relation to skills and training. The noble Lord, Lord Baker, made another wide-ranging contribution, which I am not sure focused always on the amendments. Certainly, I sometimes fear that ever since his Education Act, no other...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: Certainly we could not meet all the commitments that FE colleges were invited to submit, but the funding has not stopped and some programmes are still going ahead. Therefore, I reject the view that they have been slashed. To my knowledge there are no cuts, although the programme is not advancing as it has in the past. I shall see whether I can give a more accurate answer on that. As I said, I...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, we shall have to agree to disagree; I stand by the statement that I have made. My noble friend Lady Blackstone asked me to reiterate the assurance on delivering apprenticeships. We will ask the National Apprenticeship Service to develop and publish an apprenticeship offer delivery plan in 2010-11. In preparing this plan, the NAS will review direct employer funding arrangements in...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, Amendment 16 fulfils the commitment that I made during our debate on Report to re-examine the power for local authorities to direct colleges to accept a named individual. Noble Lords will recall that there was strong feeling that this power should be exercised only following statutory consultation with the governing body of the college. We have listened to noble Lords and this...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, I must admit that I was hoping for rather more concord than we have perhaps seen in this debate. In relation to the point of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, about skills strategy statements, I think the Secretary of State will be making a statement about that tomorrow. I hope that some concerns will be addressed in it. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, returned to the question of...

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Third Reading (10 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 1 to 20, 38, 41 and 42. Throughout the passage of the Bill, we have listened carefully to the points that noble Lords have raised. I hope that your Lordships will agree that as a result we have a much improved Bill. During the Report stage my noble friends Lord Layard and Lady Blackstone raised concerns about the use of the term "principal qualification"...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, as part of widening participation, the Government give generous financial support to disabled students, and are aware of concerns expressed about delays in providing that support this academic year. These will be investigated in the Student Loans Company's review of lessons learnt, which has external scrutiny, expertise and challenge. Government-funded arrangements are in place to...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, I think that we should keep this in perspective. More than 855,000 students have been paid by the Student Loans Company this year, more than ever before at this time of the year. We should acknowledge that a significant number of students seem to practise through lastminute.com., in that they do not apply until shortly before the start of term. A very large number have been dealt...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, in relation to the phone calls, frankly—or so I have been told—there were not enough phone lines to deal with the situation. There were an unprecedented number of starts this year but, nevertheless, that clearly needs to be remedied. As the noble Baroness knows, there is also an online system, so people are perfectly capable of processing their applications online, and...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, first let me endeavour to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Low, that we have appointed somebody to investigate that. Deian Hopkins, an ex-vice-chancellor, will be investigating and he has already been in contact with SKILL, so I hope that that will be established. On disabled students, again, we should put this in perspective; this is a great success story, inasmuch as we have a huge...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I do not think that I can explain all of those reasons; that is the whole purpose of the review and the investigation. We do take this seriously, but as for being disadvantaged our main concern is that disabled students are able to start their courses and that there should not be financial barriers. I agree that we will have to deal with the question of the assessment process, and ensure that...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I think that I would describe as a failure the higher education policies that we inherited. That would be my description of a failure

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I believe that I have already answered that question. This year, more students than ever before have been dealt with. There are some outstanding loan applications that require to be dealt with but, if you take into account the 855,000 students who have been paid by the Student Loans Company this year, it is more than ever before at this time of the year. We still have some to process and...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I do not think that I have exhibited any complacency. I have merely endeavoured to put the matter in context. We have freely admitted that mistakes were made. We have said that there will be a full investigation and have appointed somebody of significant status to preside over it. We will be dealing with the organisations that represent students with disabilities. There is no complacency. I...

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I make no apologies for my comments on the 12 years of success in ensuring that 40 per cent more students with a disability are receiving a full grant payment and that 2 million more students are entering higher education in England, a rise of more than 20 per cent from 1997. Should the Opposition ever get into power, we will praise them if they can match that.

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I will write to the noble Baroness on that.

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: In the style of the mafia, my noble friend has made me an offer I cannot refuse.

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I have given that assurance, but I cannot let it go when the noble Lord says that thousands of careers are on the line. They are not. Disabled students are able to start their course. We have processed more loans than ever before. However, I give the noble Lord an assurance that we treat this seriously and that there will be timely investigation.

Disabled People: Student Loans — Question (5 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, I have no information that disabled students are not able to start their courses. However, if the noble Lord gives me any information, I will ensure that we deal with the situation.

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill: Report (2nd Day)(Continued) (4 Nov 2009)

Lord Young of Norwood Green: I will read the note and look for more inspiration. The precise question was how we will monitor it and my note says that we accept there are concerns about the implementation but local authorities around the country are working with providers to solve them and government offices are providing support. Officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families will continue to support...